TRIUMVIRATE READY FOR ACTION
The district bench is fed up. My straw poll suggests that any perceived benefits to the punters of the switch to online procedures is felt to be substantially outweighed by the burden of the clerical duties which new procedures are dumping onto the judges and eating into available judging time. Grappling with systems, which many judges struggle to negotiate, was not the judicial life they signed up for. There are complaints of eye strain and migraines from over exposure to computer screens. Small wonder that word on the block is that new district judge appointments arising out of the latest competition and interviews this month and expected to be made as from July 2023 will be well under requirement.
And that is not all. There is a growing feeling that HMCTS has insufficient interest in the district judges’ feedback on technology. At best, it hears but largely ignores the judges on proposed changes. In his report to the troops for last week’s annual general meeting (AGM) of the district judges’ association, president Kevin Harper stated: ‘I
